So, Owen and I took Ali to the first Athens Dog Swim at the community pool. It turns out that Ali’s not a big swimmer. She was reluctant to get in the water at all. We pushed her into the “puppy” pool and she didn’t seem to mind being in the water, but she didn’t swim at all, just walked. She enjoyed the other dogs and running around smelling stuff. Later, I decided to see how she’d react in the big pool, so I pushed her in (yes, after telling Owen not to!) She looked very unhappy, so I helped her out.
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, Owen snoozed in the hammock (above) while today he started 4th grade!
Nathan spent part of his last day of summer finishing up his book report on Andrew Jackson for his AP social studies class – due today.
This morning Owen and I decided to go to COSI, our favorite science museum for the day. On the way we stopped by Kroger to get lunch so we wouldn’t need to get fast food on the way. Owen chose a lunchable and I opted for a California roll. Our next stop was the library where we got an audio book to listen to on the way. Owen talked me into getting Lemony Snicket’s Carniverous Carnival. It’s a good book, but we’ve heard it before.
When we arrived we visited all of Owen’s favorites:
He loves the Progress exhibit, especially the 1960s TV studio where today he got to read the news about the Cuban Missile Crisis
This is a great interactive exhibit. It’s a submarine where the kids can go in and play with the buttons and see stuff out of the windows (today there was a squid) and the floor shakes. I think it’s funny because there’s only one way in and out and tons of kids (and non-kids) pile in.
There was a special exhibit on Egypt – I didn’t get to see much of it because Owen ran through it pretty quickly. What I saw, though, looked pretty cool.
This was a demonstration of moving a stone to represent the ones used to build the pyramids.
We also spent some time in a really cool family adventure exhibit where we pretended to be assisting members of the Explorers Society as they searched for clues to solve a mystery in the Valley of the Unknown. The year was 1937 and the workers who introduced the exhibit did a pretty good job of staying in character. All of the kids (and parents) who were in the exhibit at the same time we were got really involved in the story and the exhibit was really well done.
The last thing we did before we hit the gift shop was wait in line for about half an hour so that Owen could ride the High Wire Unicycle. I was very proud of him for trying it – looks way scary to me. I took a video of the event but Nathan and John say I can’t post it. I also can’t quite figure out how to post it. (If you’d like to see it, ask me in person)
At Owen’s speech therapy appointment last week, it was time for one of his 5-minute discussions with his therapist where he can practice his conversational skills. He said, “I notice that we’ve had a lot of conversations but haven’t had any interviews or debates.” So she asked him if he wanted her to interview him. He said he did, and that he was a famous paleontologist who had just made a discovery in Mongolia.” So she began the interview, “Ok, Mr. Famous Paleontologist.” “Actually”, he said, “my name is Dr. Owen Cotton.”
This is from our spring break visit to the Natural History Museum in Raleigh.
Today was wacky hat/hair day at Owen’s school. So while he was in speech therapy this morning, I made his wacky hat. With a needle and thread – really. Most of the attachments didn’t make it through the day, but I think that was probably only partly due to my sewing and mostly due to the treatment the hat received! Notice Owen’s new glasses, too.
And, last and least, my new haircut:
My early birthday gift to Willow, a baby stroller, was a hit.
Meanwhile, the “big” kids were busy as well…
Last weekend, Mom, Ray, Kat, Willow and Quinlan visited us. On Saturday, Mom, Kat, Owen, Willow, Quinlan and I went on an outing to The Wilds. Owen and I went one time last year and, again, it was very cool.
